Chris Byars | |
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Background information | |
Born | New York City | November 2, 1970
Genres | Jazz |
Instrument(s) | Saxophone |
Labels | SteepleChase Records |
Formerly of | Across 7 Street |
Alma mater | Manhattan School of Music, School of American Ballet |
Parent(s) | James Byars, Janita Byars |
Website | chrisbyars |
Christopher Byars (born November 2, 1970) is an American jazz saxophonist. Formerly a child opera singer, Byars now[when?] works in the New York City jazz scene, and has regularly toured for the U.S. State Department as a jazz ambassador with frequent collaborator Ari Roland.
Byars was born in New York City on November 2, 1970, to oboist James Byars and clarinetist Janita Byars.[1] At six, he debuted as an opera performer joining the New York City Opera and Metropolitan Opera children's choirs, the New York City Ballet, and attending the School of American Ballet from ages 8 to 11 years old.[2][3] He performed hundreds of shows as a child,[2] including the title role in a made-for-TV adaptation of The Spellbound Child with George Balanchine.[4] Puberty deepened his voice, and his singing career came to an end when his voice croaked during a performance of Tosca.[5]
When Byars returned from his final tour as a singer in 1983, he was given a saxophone by his father and began focusing exclusively on jazz.[5][4] As a teenager, he studied the music of Charlie Parker after his father gave him the albums Bird and Diz and Charlie Parker with Strings.[2][1] Byars was influenced as a teenager by bassist Aaron Bell, pianist Barry Harris, who mentored him, and author Frank McCourt, his creative writing teacher at Stuyvesant High School.[2][6] He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the Manhattan School of Music in 1990 and 1992 respectively.[4]
Byars first set as a leader was a 1989 quartet date at the Angry Squire.[7] In 1990, Byars co-founded Across 7 Street with Ari Roland as a tribute band to the erstwhile saxophonist Clarence Sharpe.[8][6] The band performed Sunday nights at Smalls Jazz Club, playing original compositions inspired by the bebop era.[1] In 1998, Byars joined the Frank Hewitt quintet, which featured former Across 7 Street members Roland and Jimmy Lovelace, performing Saturday nights with him for four years.[2]
Byars has visited more than 50 countries as a jazz ambassador.[9] He began touring as part of the Ari Roland quartet with the State Department in December 2006 after making it to the finals of a competition held at Jazz at Lincoln Center.[10] The tours are intended to improve America's image abroad, and feature Byars collaborating with local musicians and incorporating elements of their native traditions into jazz.[11]
Inspired by his 2007 tour of Central Asia, Byars wrote the suite Jazz Pictures at an Exhibition of Himalayan Art, based off the Modest Mussorgsky piece Pictures at an Exhibition.[11] The work has some foreign influences but is primarily based in the language of American jazz. It debuted at an October 2007 show at the Rubin Museum of Art,[12] and was again played at the Museum in April 2008. The live performances featured Byars playing in front of a slideshow.[13] An album of the same name was later released, with each composition corresponding to a painting on display at the Museum.[14]
In 2008, Byars' quartet toured as part of The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad, playing in Slovakia, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Montenegro, and Slovenia.[3] In Muslim-majority areas, Byars won audiences over by telling them the story of Muslim American musician Basheer Qusim, a.k.a. Gigi Gryce.[15]
After performing in a commemoration of the reopening of Ledra Street crossing, Byars co-directed the "Jazz Futures" program organized by the American embassy in Cyprus with Roland from 2008 to 2013.[16] The series brought together Byars' groups and Turkish and Greek Cypriot musicians and audiences.[17][18]
Byars has recorded a number of tribute albums and live sets, playing the compositions of lesser known post-bop musicians.[3] As part of the programs, Byars infuses his own musical identity with those of his predecessors.[19]
From March 22 to 25, 2006, Byars led a four-night set at Smalls playing the compositions of Lucky Thompson, performing, at various points, with former Thompson sidemen John Hicks and Jerry Dodgion.[2] During the preparation for the set, Byars and historian Noal Cohen discovered a private recording of an August 28, 1961, radio broadcast of Thompson's octet. Byars transcribed every arrangement on the recording and taught them to the members of his own octet.[20] These compositions, as well as re-arrangements from Thompson's quartet records, were later played on the album Lucky Strikes Again.[21]
In 2007, Byars' quartet played at Teddy Charles' house, at the behest of Cohen, helping to coax the vibraphonist-turned-captain back into playing music. In June of the next year, Byars premiered the composition Bop-ography, inspired by Charles' life, in Greenwich Village.[22] He also played with the Teddy Charles Tentet in its first appearance since Charles' retirement.[23] Byars would later record with Charles on Dances with Bulls, Charles' first studio recording in forty years, and his own album Bop-ography.[24][25]
Byars has also worked on projects commemorating Freddie Redd, Gigi Gryce, Duke Jordan, Frank Strozier, and Jimmy Cleveland.[4]
Byars' music is based in 1950s bebop, though with additional contemporary stylings.[5] He developed as one of many younger players at Smalls Jazz Club during the 1990s, working with veteran players like Jimmy Lovelace and Frank Hewitt.[26][2] Byars has used the octet format in his band to exploit the texture gains from a big band while retaining the fluidity of a small group.[27][21]
Byars is a member of American Federation of Musicians Local 802.[11] He lives with his second wife, Ayna, and has two children from a previous marriage.[28] During the COVID-19 pandemic, he took up various government jobs for financial reasons.[4] He has one brother, Michael Byars.[29]
Year recorded | Title | Label |
---|---|---|
2001–2002 | Night Owls | Smalls Records |
2001–2002 | The Darkling Thrush (with Sasha Dobson) | Smalls Records |
2002 | Made in New York (with Across 7 Street) | Smalls Records |
2006 | Photos in Black, White and Gray | Smalls Records |
2007 | Jazz Pictures At An Exhibition Of Himalayan Art | SteepleChase |
2008 | Blue Lights: The Music of Gigi Gryce | SteepleChase |
2009 | Bop-ography | SteepleChase |
2010 | Lucky Strikes Again | SteepleChase |
2011 | Music Forever | SteepleChase |
2013 | Jasmine Flower | SteepleChase |
2014 | The Music of Duke Jordan | SteepleChase |
2014 | Two Fives | SteepleChase |
2015 | The Music of Frank Strozier | SteepleChase |
2016 | New York City Jazz | SteepleChase |
2018 | A Hundred Years from Today | SteepleChase |
2019 | On The Shoulders Of Giants | SteepleChase |
2021 | Rhythm And Blues Of The 20s | SteepleChase |
2022 | Look Ahead | SteepleChase |
Year recorded | Leader | Title | Label |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | Frank Hewitt | Four Hundred Saturdays | Smalls Records |
2005 | Ari Roland | Sketches from a Bassist's Album | Smalls Records |
2007 | Ari Roland | And So I Lived In Old New York | Smalls Records |
2008 | Teddy Charles | Dances with Bulls | Smalls Records |
2009 | Ari Roland | New Music | Smalls Records |
2017 | Phil Stewart | Introducing Phil Stewart: Melodious Drum | Cellar Live |
Source[30]